


Scars

by watcherofworlds



Series: Whumptober 2019 [15]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Prompt Fill, Self-Harm, Whumptober, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-17 12:01:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21054068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watcherofworlds/pseuds/watcherofworlds
Summary: Prompt fill for Whumptober Day 15 "Scars"





	Scars

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place in a slight AU where Felicity used to self harm. Trigger, tag, and content warning for the same.

“What the hell?” Oliver demanded suddenly, grabbing Felicity’s wrist and shoving her sleeve upward to reveal the crosshatching of scars on her forearm. It was in that moment that Felicity realized two things- one, that the sleeves of her sweater didn’t reach all the way to the ends of her wrists, and two, that she’d forgotten to put on any of her bracelets that morning.

“Who did this to you?” Oliver asked. His bright blue eyes blazed with fury as they looked into hers.

“I thought that was obvious,” Felicity said flatly. She tried to pull her wrist out of Oliver’s grip, but she couldn’t. He was holding onto her too tightly- not enough to hurt her, but enough that she wouldn’t be able to pull away from him unless he let her go.

“Felicity, that’s... that’s not what I meant,” Oliver said, the volume of his voice lowering, the fury in his eyes easing, softening into something else, some emotion that Felicity couldn’t name. There was a long silence before he went on, “Who made you hate yourself so much that you felt compelled to hurt yourself?”

“I wouldn’t have thought you would care so much about my scars,” Felicity said instead of answering Oliver’s question, the subject at hand one she avoided talking about as much as possible. “I didn’t think they’d be such a big deal to you, since you’re covered in scars yourself.”

“But none of mine are self inflicted, Felicity!” Oliver shouted, anger in his voice once more.

“So, what, are you saying that I’m weak?” Felicity snapped defensively in reply, her eagerness to avoid talking about this making her lash out. “That I should have  _ handled _ things better?”

“No, I’m not saying that!” Oliver shouted. His voice dropping to a murmur, he added, “You are the strongest person I know, and I... I just want to understand what happened to you that made you do this.” His hand moved from her wrist to trace over her scars with a featherlight touch, sending electric tingles up her arm in its wake. His voice was barely louder than a whisper when he said, “You _never_ should have had to go through something like this, and I just want to know who did it to you.” His voice turned steely with anger once again, and the look in his eyes as he looked at her was so intense that Felicity had to turn away from him, back toward her computers. She didn’t say anything to him, hoping that if she stayed silent, eventually he would drop the subject. And she wanted him to drop it. Desperately so. For a while, the only sound in the Foundry was the clatter of keyboard keys as she resumed her work.

“Felicity,” Oliver said after about an hour of silence, apparently having no intention of dropping it. “Please-”

“It was my dad, alright?” Felicity snapped, rounding on him suddenly and cutting him off mid-sentence. “When I was seven years old... he walked out on my mom and I. And I should have hated him for leaving, but I didn’t. I hated myself. I thought I was broken, that no one could or ever would love me. All I ever wanted to know was why. What was so wrong with me that he would leave?” She had to pause to get her emotions back under control before she continued, “I never got an answer to that question, so...” She trailed off, running a hand up and down her forearm.

“So you punished yourself,” Oliver surmised. “Because you were sure that it was because of you that he left.” The look of heartbreak on his face was so intense that it struck Felicity like a physical blow, driving the air from her lungs.

“Felicity, I’m so sorry,” he murmured in a voice heavy with sorrow. “You never deserved that.” He reached for her then, drawing her into his embrace, and she didn’t have it in her to resist or pull away. She just let him draw her close to him with a pull as inexorable as gravity.

“There was _ never _ anything wrong with you,” he murmured in her ear as he held her, voice fierce and fervent.


End file.
